$100 in 1927 is worth $1,682 in 2022,
because prices increased 1581.9% over that period, an average of
3.02% a year.
$100 in 1927 has
the same buying power as
$1,682
in 2022
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1581.9%
Average inflation rate
3.02% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,682
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,582
CPI in 1927
17.4
CPI in 2022
292.655
Inflation in 1927
-1.69%
Inflation in 2022
8.00%
$100 in 1927 → 2022
$1,682
$100 in 2022 → 1927
$5.95
What happened to prices between 1927 and 2022
Between 1927 and 2022, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.4 to 292.655.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1581.9%, which works out to an average of
3.02% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1927 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2022: the 1927 dollar
lost 94.1% of its purchasing power over
these 95 years.
Consumer prices fell 1.7% in 1927, a mild retreat after three years of
gradual increases and part of a shallow up-and-down pattern that ran through
the second half of the decade. Aviation delivered the year’s signature
moment: Charles Lindbergh departed Roosevelt Field, New York, on May 20 and
landed at Le Bourget Field outside Paris roughly 33.5 hours later, the first
person to fly the Atlantic solo and nonstop. Detroit closed a chapter of its
own that May, when Ford halted the Model T’s production line after nearly 19
years and more than 15 million cars sold, idling tens of thousands of
workers while its factories retooled for the Model A. The Federal Reserve,
meeting with European central bankers that summer, cut its discount rate to
ease pressure on currencies still recovering from the war, a move later
cited by economists including Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz as fuel for
the stock market speculation that built through the following two years.
First-class postage held at 2 cents.
Every 1927 amount converts to 2022 at the same ratio, 16.82: $1,000 becomes
$16,819, and $10,000 becomes $168,193.
Amount in 1927
Value in 2022
$1.00
$16.82
$5.00
$84.10
$10.00
$168
$20.00
$336
$50.00
$841
$100
$1,682
$500
$8,410
$1,000
$16,819
$5,000
$84,096
$10,000
$168,193
$100,000
$1,681,925
$1,000,000
$16,819,253
Inflation by spending category, 1927–2022
Between 1927 and 2022, food rose the most, up 1762.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 402.3%, against 1581.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1927
spending costs in 2022, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1927 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.02%
$1,682
Food
3.13%
$1,862
Apparel
1.71%
$502
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1927: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1927 to 2022
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1927–2022 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1927, at end
1927–1930
-1.36%
-4.0%
$95.98
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$80.46
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$139
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$170
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$223
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$474
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$751
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$990
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$1,253
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$1,487
2020–2022
6.34%
13.1%
$1,682
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1927
$100 from 1927 had already become $240 by
1972, on its way to $1,682 in 2022; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 14.4% in 1947, and prices fell 9.9% in 1932, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2022
In 2022, prices rose 8.0% and $100 from 1927 had the buying
power of $1,682; the year's average CPI of 292.655 is the level
behind every 2022 figure on this page.
2022 was the year inflation returned. Consumer prices rose 8.0% on average,
the worst since 1981, driven by pandemic-era supply chains, stimulus-fueled
demand, and an energy shock from the war in Ukraine. Gas briefly topped $5 a
gallon nationally for the first time ever, and “inflation” became the
top-ranked economic concern in nearly every poll of American households.
MLA: “Inflation from 1927 to 2022: $100 is worth $1,682 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-2022/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1927 to 2022. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-2022/